The formality that had been anticipated for weeks has now arrived. UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body has officially confirmed a Settlement Agreement with Juventus following the club’s breach of the Football Earnings Rule — the regulation that limits a club’s aggregate losses to €60 million over a three-year period. The announcement, made on 30 June, marks the beginning of a structured three-year journey back to full compliance, with significant but manageable consequences for the club’s transfer activity.
How Bad Was the Breach?
The scale of Juventus’s financial challenges in recent years is laid bare by the figures. Between the 2022-23 and 2024-25 financial years, the club accumulated aggregate losses of €381 million — more than six times the permitted threshold. A single season, 2023-24, accounted for €199 million of that total following the club’s exclusion from European competition. The UEFA assessment covered the three financial years from 2023 to 2025, evaluated for the first time on a rolling triennual basis under the new regulatory framework.
Juventus are not alone in facing sanctions this cycle. Newcastle United are subject to a parallel settlement agreement on identical terms, while Fiorentina received a separate fine of €6 million for breaching the squad cost-to-revenue ratio threshold of 70%. Bologna and Napoli exceeded the same ratio but avoided penalties after surplus revenues in subsequent balance sheets offset the deviation.
The Fine: €6 Million Certain, Up to €14 Million Conditional
The financial penalty is structured in two parts. The unconditional element — the sum that must be paid regardless of future performance — is €6 million, already accounted for in Juventus’s 2025-26 financial statements. The remaining €14 million is conditional: it will only become payable if the club fails to meet the intermediate targets set by UEFA across the three years of the agreement. Of that €14 million, approximately €4 million was attributable to the 2025-26 financial year — and Juventus are confident they have already met that year’s targets, meaning those €4 million will not be triggered. The remaining €10 million remains at risk only if the club misses future milestones.
Crucially, Juventus have made a further and perhaps more optimistic disclosure: if their financial trajectory continues to improve ahead of schedule, they may be able to activate what UEFA terms an “early exit” from the settlement regime — potentially escaping the framework before the 2028 deadline. The club believe this scenario is realistic, provided their commercial revenues and transfer trading remain on track.
The Sporting Consequence: Europa League Squad Restrictions
Beyond the financial penalty, the settlement imposes a tangible sporting constraint. When Juventus submit their Europa League squad list in August, the total cost of that list — calculated on the basis of combined wages and amortisation of transfer fees — must be at least €1 lower than the equivalent figure submitted for the Champions League last February. In practical terms, this means every incoming signing must be offset by departures of at least equal financial weight. The squad cannot become more expensive; it can only become cheaper.
This is the real mechanism governing Carnevali’s transfer strategy for the summer — and, as he has repeatedly demonstrated in recent weeks, it is one he has internalised entirely. Every acquisition requires a corresponding sale; every wage commitment requires a corresponding reduction elsewhere. It is, in essence, the Sassuolo model applied under regulatory compulsion — a philosophy he was already following by choice.
Why Juventus Remain Confident
The numbers work in Juventus’s favour more than the headline fine might suggest. The expiry of Dušan Vlahović’s contract alone removes approximately €40 million from the balance sheet in combined wages and amortisation — a single departure that immediately creates substantial room within the squad cost framework. The club’s plan is to reduce overall costs by between 5% and 10% in 2026-27 relative to current levels, targeting €100 million in capital gains from player trading to compensate for the lost Champions League revenues and fund the incoming signings Spalletti has requested.
The road ahead is demanding. But three years, a clear framework, and a chief executive who has spent his career making precisely these kinds of financial calculations at Sassuolo gives Juventus reason for measured confidence. The settlement era has begun — and for the first time in years, the club knows exactly the rules of the game it must play.
